SSY AB

REDEFINING ICE CAPABILITY

ABOUT US

SSY is based in Gävle, a city in the heart of the historic ‘iron kingdom’ dating back to the 6th century. Gävle is also a city with a proud tradition of shipbuilding. Along the Gävle River during the 1800s, there were a number of major shipyard companies that mass-produced merchant sailing ships.
By the middle of the century, four of the six largest Swedish shipyards were in Gävle. This period was the peak of the city’s shipping industry, with five of the country’s largest shipping companies based in Gävle. Briggen Gerda was built in Gävle in 1869. The ship was the last Swedish merchant sailing ship. A copy of Briggen Gerda was built in the early 1990s as a large social labor project.

MANUFACTURING

The stainless steel alloy super duplex 2507 has been developed by metallurgists at Sandvik AB. The alloy is extremely resistant to corrosion and fracture caused by saltwater. All metal under the waterline is mirror polished, which ensures that marine organisms that have attached to the hull are removed either with a low-pressure hose or at speeds as low as 5 kn. This therefore avoids the need for environmentally hazardous and expensive anti-fouling paints!
The steel hull retains its mechanical properties despite tough conditions over a long period of time. This is a major advantage compared with plastic, carbon fiber and aluminum boats, which may deteriorate over a number of years.

HISTORY

As early as the Viking period, high-tech boats were being built. The Vikings’ long and relatively narrow wooden longships were extremely lightweight and fast.
One of their secrets that allowed them to sail over vast oceans was that the Viking longship hull was flexible in construction, which allowed it to absorb the force from powerful waves.